Meaning & Origins

From an Old French name of Germanic (Frankish) origin, from nord ‘north’ + berht ‘bright, famous’. The best-known bearer of this name was an 11th-century saint who founded an order of monks known as Norbertians (also called Premonstratensians from their first home at Premontré near Laon). Norbert was one of several names of Germanic origin that were revived in Britain in the late 19th century, but it is now rather more common in North America than in Britain.